Tim

Orthopedics

Tim

Tim Sullivan is an active guy. He has run marathons, completed triathlons
and climbed mountains. When he started having pain in his hip, he ignored
it at first. When it got worse, he tried physical therapy, but it soon
became clear the problem was more serious than he had initially thought.
Before the pain started, Tim could hike 20 miles. Eventually, it got so
bad he could no longer take a short walk.

The pain became constant, and an MRI exam showed that Tim had severe damage
in his hip. There were fractures across the head of his femur. The cartilage
between the femur and hip socket was gone, and the bones were literally
scraping against each other. To stop the pain, he would need to undergo
total hip replacement surgery at just 57 years old.

“I knew I absolutely wanted my surgery to be at Huntington Hospital,”
Tim says, whose wife is an occupational therapist here. “My family
and I have been patients before,” he adds, “and we always
had the best of care.”

Before the procedure, he attended a special educational session at the
hospital to learn about what to expect before, during and after surgery.
Following the procedure, he notes, he appreciated what he had learned:
“They made sure I would have the best recovery possible,” he says.

Todd Dietrick, MD, performed the operation to remove and replace the damaged
parts of Tim’s hip, and the surgery was an overwhelming success:
He was home within 24 hours, and within two months, Tim was hiking again.
This August, he and his wife plan to climb Mount Whitney — the highest
summit in the continental United States!

“From the moment I walked into the hospital, everyone was great —
not just the doctors, but people at the front desk, nurses, staff checking
me in, everyone,” Tim says. “I just can’t say enough
good things about my experience, and the people at Huntington Hospital
who helped me every step of the way.”